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Hawaii senators have advanced a bill to create a psychedelics task force responsible for studying and making policy recommendations on providing access to breakthrough therapies such as psilocybin and MDMA.
Members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved the legislation from Sen. Chris Lee (D), with amendments, in a 5-0 vote on Wednesday.
The measure would create a Mental Health Emerging Therapies Task Force that’d be tasked with spending two years reviewing the current scientific literature, supporting additional clinical research and “developing policy recommendations for safe, ethical, and culturally-informed implementation” of a psychedelics therapy program.
“The legislature finds that addressing the mental health crisis affecting the residents of the State, particularly among veterans, first responders, and trauma survivors, is urgent,” the bill, SB 3199, states. “Suicide continues to be a leading cause of preventable death, and the State must explore all safe and effective treatment options supported by scientific evidence.”
Noting that the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already designated psilocybin and MDMA as breakthrough therapies in the treatment of serious mental health conditions, which could lend to future rescheduling under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Hawaii legislation says the state “must proactively prepare public health, clinical, and research systems for safe and equitable implementation.”
Members of the task force would have to include representatives of the state Department of Health (DOH), the attorney general’s office, the Office of Wellness and Resilience (OWR), the University of Hawaii’s medical school and more.
As drafted, DOH would have overseen the task force, but that was amended in committee to make it the responsibility of “an entity with demonstrated expertise in primary scientific research and pharmaceutical or medical education.”
“Administrative placement of the task force within an entity with demonstrated expertise in primary scientific research and pharmaceutical or medical education shall not be construed to transfer, delegate, diminish, expand, or otherwise modify any regulatory, enforcement, licensing, scheduling, or rulemaking authority vested in the Department of Health, Board of Pharmacy, or any other state agency,” the bill as revised says. “All statutory authority relating to controlled substances, professional licensure, and public health regulation shall remain with the appropriate executive branch agencies as provided by law.”
The proposal has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee for further discussion.
It appears that the bill would build upon prior work conducted by a separate psychedelics task force that convened for the first time in 2023, with a similar goal of exploring pathways for therapeutic access into FDA-approved breakthrough drugs like psilocybin.
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Meanwhile, Hawaii senators recently approved a bill to legalize low-dose and low-potency marijuana, even as their counterparts in the House of Representatives say cannabis prohibition will not be ended in the state this year.
The Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday also approved a bill to allow patients to immediately access medical cannabis once their registrations are submitted, instead of having to wait until their cards are delivered as is the case under current law.
A separate marijuana legalization bill that contained provisions making the reform contingent on changes to federal law or the state Constitution, SB 2421, was deferred for action. Both Senate and House panels additionally deferred action on a measure to allow for the sale of certain hemp-derived cannabinoid products.
The Senate committee action comes after key House lawmakers signaled that cannabis legalization proposals would not be advancing in the 2026 session, citing a lack of sufficient support in their chamber.
Image courtesy of CostaPPR.
Kyle Jaeger is Marijuana Moment’s Sacramento-based managing editor. He’s covered drug policy for more than a decade—specializing in state and federal marijuana and psychedelics issues at publications that also include High Times, VICE and attn. In 2022, Jaeger was named Benzinga’s Cannabis Policy Reporter of the Year.
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